In Germany, residetns have given up on cars. Vauban's streets are completely "car-free", except the main throughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge are only two places to park.

70 percent of Vauban's families do not own cars, and the 57 percent sold a car to move there. Some say they feel happier now than before when they had a car. Automobiles are the linchpin of suburbs, where middle-class families from Chicago to Shanghai tend to make their homes. Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced drastically. Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the U.S.

In the new approach to make cities denser, and better for walking stores are being placed a walk away, on a main street, rather than in malls along some distant highway. In teh U.S., the Enviornmental Protection Agency is promoting "car reduced" communities, and legistors are starting to act, if cautiously. In previous bills, 80 percent of appropriations have by law gone to highways and only 20 percent to other tansport.

After days of near record pollution, Paris enforced a partial driving ban to clear the air of the global city. Almost 4,000 drivers were fined, according to Reuters, an international news agency headquartered in London; 27 people had their cars impounded for their reaction to the fine. Cold nights and warm days caused the warmer layer of air to trap car emissions. The smog cleared enough Monday for the ruling French party to rescind the ban for odd-numbered plates on Tuesday.

President Obama's goal to curb the U.S.'s greenhouse gas emissions, unveiled last week. Recent astudies suggest that Americans are buying fewer cars, driving less and getting fewer licenses as each year goes by. Pedestrian, bicycle, private cars, commercial and public transportation traffic are woven into a connected network to save time, conserve resources, lower emissions and improve safety.    